Summary: The rape allegations against prominent lawyer Sanford Rubenstein have been described in detail by a letter from the alleged victim.
The case of the woman who is accusing a prominent New York city defense lawyer of rape intensified last Tuesday as she hand-delivered a letter detailing her take on the alleged assault. District Attorney Cyrus Vance received the letter Tuesday, which was signed by the woman’s lawyers Kenneth J. Montgomery and Keith White, and the DA did not comment on it.
The letter specifies that Sanford A. Rubenstein sexually assaulted her. She awoke to him doing so, and found “bloody condoms lying around her,” and also had bruises on her arms to show she had been held down, and had significant vaginal bleeding, which, when compared with the results of her rape kit and examination, suggest she was indeed assualted. She and her lawyers are therefore asking that Rubenstein be charged with at least third-degree rape, since she was not sober enough to consent.
Rubenstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, responded saying “All evidence to date points to consensual sex between two consenting adults,” a bit of redundancy there, “who were both active and awake throughout.” He also called the letter, “offensive and patently false.”
The woman’s lawyers argued that the video camera that showed her willingly accompanying Rubenstein to his penthouse does not prove she consented to sex, and further, “the results of any toxicology is of no consequence considering the victim’s injuries, statements, and lack of consent.”
That they wish to rule out toxicology suggests at least that they don’t have much to stand on in that corner, and that if Rubenstein is charged and brought to trial, the prosecutors must base their case mostly on the woman’s testimony.
This nevertheless is taking a toll on Rubenstein, a lawyer famous for his defense of those brutalized by police, for which he’s won millions of dollars. Lately, clients have recognized his name and turned him down, choosing other lawyers instead.